Background on Plant

Muja power station is a 1,094-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned and operated by Verve Energy, which was merged into Synergy in 2014, an electricity corporation owned by the Western Australian government. The Muja power station, which was opened in 1966, comprises four 60 MW units in Stages A-B, two 200MW generating units in Stage C and two 227MW units in Stage D.[1]

A & B units refurbished, then quickly retired

On its website Verve Energy states that "the four smallest and least efficient units, Stages A and B, were closed in April 2007. These units could be refurbished and recommissioned by 2012 as an interim measure during the transition to clean technologies." The four units are 60 MW each.[1][2]

In 2009 the Barnett government controversially decided to refurbish the ageing facility by December 2011, to bolster South West energy supplies, saying the private sector would pay for the refurbishment. The project was reportedly plagued by problems from the outset, with technical and engineering difficulties leading to multiple cost and time blowouts.[3]

On 25 June 2013, after spending A$308m on the planned recommissioning of units A & B, Premier Colin Barnett announced work had been postponed indefinitely: "units three and four continue to operate, units 1 and 2 are basically mothballed".[4] Critics say the government should face a public inquiry over its decision to revive the plant, as the private investor had pulled out amid ballooning project costs, leaving taxpayers footing the bill.[5]

As of 2014 two units of Muja A and B were used intermittently.[6] The units were plagued by operational and reliability problems, generating electricity just 20 per cent of the time.[3]

In May 2017 Labor energy minister Ben Wyatt said plants A and B would be retired permanently.[7] Synergy plans to retire two units at Muja AB on 30 September 2017, and the remaining two units will likely be retired in April 2018.[8]

In September 2017 Wyatt announced that all units at Muja AB would be closed by the end of the month due to safety concerns and the high cost of repairs needed to keep the plant operational. “$300 million of taxpayers' money was wasted on this project due to their disastrous management,” Wyatt said. “Muja AB will be remembered as the embodiment of the previous government’s lack of respect for the taxpayers of WA."[9] In March 2018, Synergy confirmed it had made an additional US$20.3 million provision for decommissioning the coal-fired generator.[3]